This invention relates to a boar cart for use in transporting a boar adjacent to a series of pens containing sows during insemination of the sows.
In high intensity rearing of pigs, sows after farrowing are moved to an area where they are maintained in separate pens awaiting insemination at the suitable time of estrous. The sows are maintained in separate pens in rows on one or both sides of dividing alleyways so that the farm hand can move along the row of sows both at the front and rear to access the sows for insemination and for various other purposes.
The alleyways between the rows can range in width from 18 inches up to 36 inches in most cases and in some cases the alleyways are wider still. The alleyways are defined between rows of pens and of course at the end of the rows the alley turns through a right angle so that passage can be obtained along one end of the rows and then back between the next set of rows where another right angle turn is required.
It is well known in artificial insemination that it is desirable to bring a boar to the sows both for the purposes of stimulating the sows by close physical contact with the boar and for determining whether a particular sow is in estrous. The presence of the boar is known to improve the effectiveness of the artificial insemination both by allowing the farm hand to more accurately determine the presence of estrous and in addition to place the sow in a more accepting condition for the insemination.
Conventionally a boar is led along the front of the stalls so as to physically contact or approach each sow in turn while the farm hand takes the necessary actions for carrying out insemination of those sows found to be in estrous. This requires the manual handling of a very large powerful animal by one or more additional farm hands.
Attention has therefore been given to design a device which allows the boar to be moved or transported along the alleyway in front of the row of sows in their pens while the farm hand carries out the necessary actions for insemination. It is clearly desirable if such a device is remotely controllable so that the farm hand at the rear of the animal can operate the device to move the boar to the required position adjacent the sow involved.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved boar cart and to provide an improved method using the boar cart.
According to the invention therefore there is provided a boar cart for carrying a boar through alleyways of a sow insemination area for interaction with the sows during insemination is formed by a cage for containing the boar including a cage floor on which the boar stands, two sides each defined by vertical bars on a respective side of a longitudinal center line of the cage assembly for confining the boar so that the boar is maintained extending longitudinally of the cage, a front and a rear defined by vertical bars, at least one of which can be opened as a door to allow entry and exit. The cage is mounted on rear driving wheels and front steering/caster wheels. The cage is defined by a front portion and a rear portion connected together for pivotal articulated movement about one or two pivot couplings defining a vertical pivot axis arranged substantially at the center line such that the cage can articulate to the left and to the right for navigating left and right corners in the alleyways while the boar is retained in the cage. The length of the cage is reduced by bowing the front and rear bars. The front steering wheels can be set to direct the steering slightly to the left or right so as to tend to guide the cage along one or other side of the alley where it has rollers to run along a rail and hold the boar close to the sows on one side.